The sitter has not been identified, but an indirect clue to her identity may be found in an account of the artist's ménage written by Sir Michael Sadler and published in Michael Sadleir's Michael Ernest Sadler, a Memoir by his Son, 1949, p.253. Late in 1913, when Currie was living with Miss Dolly Henry at Hampstead, Dolly's dark-haired Irish cousin Mary came to stay ‘in a status between guest and servant’. It is just possible that she sat for her portrait, since this painting, which is dated 1913, shows a dark-haired girl, of slightly peasant-like Celtic features, whose intense expression fits Sir Michael's description of cousin Mary.

Published in:Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, I